Almost 44 years ago, a piece of plastic and silicon the size of a hardback book was released to the British public. The ZX Spectrum. For those who might not remember it, sadly, I do, it was the UK’s first truly affordable mass-market home computer.

It inspired a generation of bedroom coders, engineers, and digital pioneers — the people who built the British digital economy. But 44 years later, the world they built is being weaponised against us.

Before I came into politics, I served in the Armed Forces. The threats I trained to face at Sandhurst were physical. If an adversary wanted to strike Britain, they had to cross water. But as the Prime Minister has said, we are living in an era of geopolitical instability not seen for a generation.

The nature of the threat has changed and the nature of warfare has changed with it. Now, attacks on British systems are increasing in volume, in sophistication, and in ambition. They come from criminal syndicates operating across borders. They come from ransomware gangs who treat children’s nurseries as targets of opportunity. And yes, they come from hostile states.

Work restarting in the Jaguar Land Rover Wolverhampton factory last year after a cyber attack. PIC: Jaguar Land Rover/PA Wire

placeholder image — Work restarting in the Jaguar Land Rover Wolverhampton factory last year after a cyber attack. PIC: Jaguar Land Rover/PA Wire

States who have concluded the most effective way to weaken a country — they’ve worked out that the most effective way is not to confront us directly, but to quietly hollow us out. To hack the logistics systems that move our goods. To compromise businesses that keep our high streets alive.

Think about the recent attack on Jaguar Land Rover and the damage it inflicted on their business.

If this damage had been caused by an old-school, physical attack it would have been the equivalent of hundreds of masked criminals turning up to dealerships across the country breaking glass, smashing up computers and driving cars right off the forecourt.

The truth is, there is no significant difference between these types of attacks — they are both brazen acts of criminality.

NCSC handled over 200 nationally significant incidents last year. More than double the year before. That number tells me the frontline isn’t coming — it’s here. So I want to make something very clear: The cyber security of British business is a matter of national security.

The government’s role is to set the standard. To share the intelligence. To build the support and provide the guidance.

What it cannot do - what no government can do - is substitute for the decisions that every organisation and business in this country needs to make.

Basic cyber hygiene is no longer optional, but the baseline - the absolute minimum we should expect of any serious organisation operating in the modern economy. And if we are asking that of you - then we also have a responsibility to you.

Which is why I am announcing a new £90m investment to strengthen our cyber resilience. We will provide practical, targeted support to help our small and medium-sized businesses and we will boost cyber resilience in priority areas.

We will help organisations implement the Cyber Essentials standard and are also asking every major organisation to sign a new Cyber Resilience Pledge which we will launch this summer.

The Pledge invites organisations to make a public commitment, to their investors, their customers, their supply chains, to make cyber security a Board responsibility to sign up to the NCSC’s Early Warning service to demand that suppliers are Cyber Essentials certified.

An abridged version of a speech by Security Minister Dan Jarvis at CYBERUK.